Time to Bury the Hatchet

This week's Torah portion speaks of the diplomatic envoys that Jacob sent in advance of encountering his brother Esau. Was he still hostile, driven by years of unresolved bitterness? Was the "Fatwa" still in effect? Could the passage of time have worked its slow softening magic on Esav? Was he more conscious of the void of estrangement than its cause?

The question of healing and forgiveness looms large here. The aforementioned reference to the healing properties of time, typically, is only the case when a prolonged separation is framed by genuine overtures of remorse and most importantly, accompanied by clear actionable efforts to repair the damage. The passage of time in a vacuum, however, contributes only to a festering of the original hurt. In that case the longer time span merely symbolizes a longer arc of alienation.

I see the usage of the word "Malachim," angels, to describe those envoys, (the choice of words is clearly intentional given the attention paid it by all the commentators, etc.) as a biblical prompt, somehow suggestive of the existence of a dialogue that was already in play on some level between the two brothers. A process that is hinted at imaginatively but invisible scripturally suggests a level of deep holiness and profound healing, whose efficacy requires discretion and the safety of privacy.

I can't help but see Jacob as Noah, sending forth HIS winged "Malachim" envoys, scanning the submerged horizon for a sign of dry land. A reconciliation requires even that minimal neutrality, a blankness where the raging waters have managed to subside. The fact that there were two sets of birds tasked with this, seems to signal and symbolize the need for that "process behind the process." May the energy of this portion incentivize all those estranged brothers and sisters, (not just biological, but encompassing the full spectrum of important relationships that have unraveled) to consider resolution and reunion over alienation and the throbbing loneliness of a fragmented life.